Santorini Sunset & Sunrise

Well, perhaps not surprisingly, the Weather app on our iPhones was right for once. On Friday morning we got up at 7:00 AM to go explore the Church of 100 Doors in Paros and by the time we got there it was pouring rain. Don't feel bad for us though; we ducked into the Cafe Distrato where we had lunch yesterday, and had a long, relaxing breakfast, reading our books, while outside the lanes filled with water. We were the only customers; it's going to be one of my favorite memories from the trip.

Our ferry left at 11:55 AM, and just on schedule, it stopped raining at 11:00. We paid our bill, went back to the Pension Sofia, and got a ride down to the dock. We took a couple of Dramamine again and boarded the Blue Star just on time. It started raining again just as we got on board. Three hours later we joined the hundreds of other tourists and stepped of the ferry into clearing skies.

Santorini is actually an archipelago of five different islands; the main island is named Thira, but most people refer to it as Santorini. Originally, at the time of the Minoans, the island was an entirely circular volcano named Stronglii (the round one). Around 1630 BC it exploded in the largest recorded eruption in human history. About 24 cubic miles of material was ejected; four times the size of the Krakatoa eruption. The explosion sent a huge tsunami headed towards Crete, only 70 miles away, where archaeologists speculate that it was responsible for the eventual downfall of the Knossos kingdom. Today, the villages on Santorini are perched on the cliffs, 1000 feet above the crater, which is filled with the sea. This is the sunrise on Saturday morning from our balcony.

We are staying in the village of Oia on the northern tip of the island. You've probably seen it in postcards. We're staying in a "cave house", carved out of the side of the volcanic rock. Originally these were once the poorest dwellings in town, but today, they are the most sought after. This was my one splurge on the trip; we spent more than twice as much as we had on any other place. Somehow, though, I expected a little more luxury. As Kathy and I went walking, we couldn't help noticing the places that had individual infinity spas in front of each dwelling. Just for kicks we went on the Web and checked the prices. The one place we looked at went for a little more than $1,000 a night (and this is the off season!) I'm willing to splurge, but I'm not crazy.

The ferry docked around 3:00 PM and we hopped a bus to Fira (the main town), and then another bus to Oia, so we got in about 5:00 PM. We tried using Google Maps to find our place, but it really didn't work, so we called and the owner sent someone to get us. The owner, Zak Zagarelos, owns six "traditional cave houses" and rents them out to tourists. He gave us a choice of two different houses, since the season is essentially finished at the end of this week. Several of the other houses were occupied last night, but when we leave tomorrow, we'll be his last guests.

After we dropped off our luggage, we headed out to the Oia "point" to see the sunset. That is the most important time here and when there is a cruise ship in port, there are thousands of people. Friday was no exception; the streets were packed, mostly with Asian tourists off of the one cruise ship in port. It was still beautiful. This is the view from our balcony looking back towards the main part of the island.

This is the view from the end of the island, with Kathy and another tourist snapping pictures.

Here is the view back towards our house from the end of the island. We are in the dark colored reddish house almost right in the middle.

Here's one more picture of the town without any tourists in the foreground. I had to hold my phone up high over my head to get it; after all, I'm pretty tall.

Finally, here is the sunset over the Caldera that everyone was there for.

Saturday morning it was windy and cloudy, but not raining. It actually made for perfect hiking weather. Before breakfast, Kathy and I set out to see how far we could walk along the cliffs. Unlike the night before, we met almost no one else on our walk.

When we got back, we had a nice breakfast in our room. Then, we spent the rest of the day relaxing on our balcony, enjoying some of the nicest views in Europe. Tomorrow morning we're taking off for Athens, and then, back to California.